[Air temperature in the outer ear canal--experimental studies in relation to radical cavity surgery]

By means of special probes, air temperatures were determined in external auditory meatus and in "radical" mastoid cavities. Under normal conditions, there was no difference between the two groups, the temperature next to the drum head being in the same range as the body temperature. Exposure to simulated wind only lowered the temperature significantly in cases with very wide external meatus; e.g., after surgery. Suction--as is used in the daily practice of cleaning ears in the ENT surgery--caused a very abrupt decrease in temperature. In cases with open mastoid cavities, there was vertigo with nystagmus, due to the caloric vestibular stimulus. -Operative techniques such as the obliteration of such cavities or the reconstruction of the posterior wall of the meatus can considerably reduce this phenomenon.